Bill O Brien

STATE COLLEGE - It didn't take long for Bill O'Brien to be back to his normal self. After Saturday's season-opening, 24-14 loss to Ohio, the Nittany Lions' first-year head coach was talkative at a Tuesday news conference after being terse in his postgame presser. And now that he has watched the film from Penn State's Saturday game, O'Brien gave his evaluation. He said there are no excuses. Coach Frank Solich brought one of his best Ohio teams into Beaver Stadium and did a great job. "There was nothing that really surprised me," O'Brien said.

STATE COLLEGE - Bill O'Brien doesn't really care what the fans wear to Saturday's game against No. 24 Northwestern at Beaver Stadium. He just wants them there, and he wants them there early. "This is a noon kickoff, and this is by far the biggest game to this point this year," O'Brien said at his weekly news conference on Tuesday. " . . . We need all those students in the stands, at noon, for that kickoff. These guys feed off of that crowd noise, the student section. " Penn State (3-2, 1-0 Big Ten)

PENN STATE and new coach Bill O'Brien have reeled in another four-star recruit for the Class of 2013, according to reports. Defensive end Garrett Sickels, from Little Silver, N.J., gave a verbal commitment to the Nittany Lions on Saturday. Sickels, 6-4, 225, is ranked as the 50th-best player in the nation. As a senior at Red Bank Regional, he had 11 sacks and 76 total tackles. "I strongly believe in the values Coach Paterno set forth," Sickels told Blue White Illustrated.

Penn State coach Bill O'Brien said that linebacker recruit Zayd Issah, who has been charged for his alleged role in a forgery scheme and with trying to pass counterfeit money, will not play football at Penn State in 2013. Issah, 18, who starred at Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, was arrested March 10 after police said he tried to use counterfeit money to pay for food at a McDonald's restaurant. He has been charged with four felonies among eight counts. In an interview Wednesday with the Associated Press, O'Brien said he met over the weekend with Issah and his family.

STATE COLLEGE - Quarterback Steven Bench has been granted a release to transfer from the Penn State football team, the school announced yesterday. It is an unexpected move. Bench, the rising sophomore from Georgia, started in the Blue-White Game and had been in a competition with rising sophomore Tyler Ferguson and incoming freshman Christian Hackenberg for the starting position in 2013. "I have been meeting with all the players this week with my evaluation of where they are at related to football and academics and to discuss what they need to work on this summer," head coach Bill O'Brien said in a statement.

STATE COLLEGE - Penn State coach Bill O'Brien is fervently disputing suggestions raised in a report that player medical care has been compromised after the team doctor was replaced. Speaking in an angry tone that might be otherwise reserved for an argument with an official, O'Brien told reporters that the health and safety of his players were his top priorities. The athletic department has been responding to a story in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated that questioned the quality of care and the motivations behind the removal of longtime team doctor Wayne Sebastianelli earlier this year.

A photograph Tuesday with a story on the new Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden showed Cooper University Hospital, which is affiliated with the new school. The caption gave an incorrect name for the building. In addition, while students will undergo some training at the hospital, most of their initial training will be in the school's new facility, which was not pictured. A story Tuesday on a water main break inaccurately described action taken by the Philadelphia Gas Works.

Dorian Johnson, one of the top prospects in Pennsylvania at offensive tackle, made an oral commitment Sunday to attend Penn State in 2013, according to several recruiting websites. The 6-foot-6, 275-pounder, from Belle Vernon High near Pittsburgh, is the 12th member of the Class of 2013 to commit to the Nittany Lions and new head coach Bill O'Brien. "Everything just felt right," Johnson told Blue White Illustrated. "I was comfortable with the coaches, comfortable with the entire program and the way things are headed.

STATE COLLEGE - Bill O'Brien isn't focusing on the past. When it came to the topic of Illinois sending its coaches to State College this summer to recruit Nittany Lions, O'Brien just kept the discussion to preparing for Saturday's game at the Fighting Illini during his weekly press conference Tuesday at Beaver Stadium. "It takes a lot to bother me," O'Brien said. "So I will tell you that our players, myself, our staff, we're very focused on the task at hand, which is to practice today.

DeMatha Catholic running back Mark Allen's recruitment was just picking up. The 5-foot-7, 185-pound prospect was drawing interest from about a dozen schools, including West Virginia, Maryland, and Wake Forest, according to Allen's high school coach, Elijah Brooks. But when Penn State coach Bill O'Brien spoke with Allen late Monday night and offered the junior a full scholarship, that was it. Allen committed right away. The Hyattsville, Md., native became the first member of Penn State's 2014 recruiting class.